BWC2014 - 12th June (Day 29 - Happy Valentine's Day)

Interesting Brazilian way of
counting to 5!

No it was not a typo again. The Brazilian indeed celebrate their Valentine's day on the 12th of June! And today was also the beginning of the World Cup 2014 at Sao Paolo! 

Bid, our Catering Team
assistant coordinator!

Every morning, the bus that goes to Cruzeiro passed by the stadium. I took one today that went to the other direction instead!! No big damage done, I just had to alight at the first stop and walked back to the bus terminal to catch the right one again. 

As a result, I was late by 30 minutes and many of my colleagues were already waiting with Bid. No time for coffee today, I moved to the stadium immediately with Tony, Laura and Bid on a cart just like those used in the golf course. 

Tony showed us the dressing room of the teams, LOC General Coordinator (GC) room, Medical room and the Referee room where all would have a break area with snacks and coffee (not for referees and players though). He said we just need to take photo while the work is done by the Caterer. All these must be prepared on match day 3 hours before kick off. 

Nothing fancy about the rest, but the dressing rooms were big! The names of the teams were already printed on the door. There was a big jacuzzi too!

Brazilian supporters cheering their team
for the first match of the tournament!

Watching the opening
ceremony at a different
stadium!

After the usual lunch work, the final moment has finally arrived! At 3pm, the TV were already showing the crowd, getting ready for the opening ceremony. All the Catering team members walked together to the stadium to watch the opening which started around 4pm, and then the first half of the World Cup 2014 first match between Brazil and Croatia! The game kicked off at 5pm. For the first time, I watched a match without commentary! Felt a little weird. But the feeling was special to watch a big screen inside a stadium!  Croatia took the surprise lead and the first goal of the tournament was an own goal! 

The guy which is seen every where
in Brazil nowadays!

Everyone was tensed.  But, the wait for equaliser was not long.  18 minutes later, Neymar squared things up.  He netted again on penalty in the second half and Brazil eventually won the match three nil. Right after the match, there were messages circulating around with Marcelo's (the Brazilian player who scored the own goal) head pasted on a Croatian jersey, and the Japanese referee in a Brazil uniform because he awarded a dubious penalty to the Brazil team!

We came back to the Volunteer Centre to watch the 2nd half. After which, Tony invited me for dinner at the centre. Actually, Jansler, a good friend of Eder invited me to meet up tonight but I wasn't sure if we were having dinner. Feeling a little hungry already, I had some anyway. Around 7, I walked over to the accreditation centre to wait for Jansler to pick us up. 

Eder welcoming me in his
own way!

An "interesting" place
indeed

They brought me to a famous Arabian restaurant with great super chilled beer! (Very famous indeed for some reason which I only found out a couple of weeks later.  This place was a very popular joint for gays and lesbians that even Lonely Planet has record on it). Met Ismael another friend and had a long chat. Only Jansler speaks English and he was really kind and nice, translating almost all our conversation in English and Portuguese! He also told me a lot of things about Brazil and the culture here, from the latest songs to the famous snacks. He taught me a very cool way of telling others you need the loo!  Instead of the usual boring "I'm going to pee", the Brazilian guys like to "let the water out from my knee!" instead or "Tirar agua do joelho"!

Delicious Kibe!!

We tried a food called Kibe which taste really good with cheese. A popular Lebanese-style snack, it contained deep fried "croquette" of beef and bulgur wheat, seasoned with garlic, onions, mint and cinnamon.

Drag Queen from Brasilia!

After a great night, Jansler said I am could be "com leite"! I was puzzled because I am guy with no milk! Literally, "com leite" means "with milk"! Usually referring to a kid which is inferior to the other, and in this case, it means I don't have to pay for the bill!  I thanked Jansler very much for the thought but insisted to fork out my share as well.  Ismael stayed along the way and was very kind to send me all the way back to my house.  We took some pictures together before we said good night and promised to have another session again soon!